Issuu

2021 Annual Report

It takes a village to raise a forest.

Ankilahila, Madagascar

We need you to join our village Continuous exponential growth

Contents

3 5 9 17 23

One step closer to billions of trees Laying the groundwork for large-scale reforestation Looking ahead Thanks for empowering global reforestation and holistic community change

Mahabana, Madagascar

We need you to join our village “As we enter our 17th year of forest restoration, we are seeing once deforested landscapes, turning into healthy, diverse forest systems.” In many ways, 2021 was the best of times and the worst of times. The Eden teams certainly experienced significant highs and lows. On the positive side, our global forest restoration teams set out to produce and plant a minimum of 300 million trees during 2021. We surpassed that goal by nearly 20%, ending the year with a total of 358 million trees planted, a 98% increase from 2020. We also initiated the launch of four new project nations: Brazil, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Guatemala, which will enable us to continue to scale rapidly in 2022 and beyond. Critical to our core mission of alleviating poverty, we provided jobs to over 11,500 people, giving them new opportunities at economic self-sufficiency, improved health, and education. As we enter our 17th year of forest restoration, we are seeing once deforested landscapes turning into healthy, diverse forest systems.

On the challenging side, COVID has had a brutal impact on the world, and it has been even worse for those who live in impoverished communities in developing nations. The impact of the pandemic has been compounded by several hardships that hit our teams and our project nations, one after another: dengue fever, earthquakes, drought, floods, fires, civic unrest, civil war, thieves trying to rob our people delivering payroll to workers in remote areas, and – not least – elephants trampling through our nurseries. Through all that, our teams persevered with the relentless grit and resilience that makes Eden who we are. We never lose our commitment to turn your support into economic and environmental restoration in the communities with which we partner. In the middle of 2022, Eden will plant its one-billionth tree. Our teams have done so much, but there is still so much to do. Our goal is to plant 50 billion trees by 2030. The world needs a trillion trees planted before 2040. That’s a thousand times the number of trees we’ve planted to date, and 20 times the number we are working to plant by 2030. We say it takes a village to raise a forest. Our planting teams on the ground in countries around the world, our national and international leaders who guide them, our US-based team, our donors and business partners, and the range of service providers who are helping us grow, improve and develop new capabilities are all critical to the success of our mission to plant trees and save lives. As we continue to grow exponentially, we need our supporting village to grow as well. This is a job for the whole world. Will you join us? Thank you for believing and partnering in our mission. Dr. Stephen Fitch

Continuous exponential growth TREES PLANTED PER YEAR

2017 36M+

2016 (Avg. per year)

2011-2014 17.3M+

2015 26M+

27M+

2021 358M+

2020 182M+

2019 61M+

2018 52M+

Our Employ to Plant metho drives continued success

11.5k⁺

Local community members empowered with fair wages

243

Project sites 100 sites added in 2021

odology

Seedling nurseries with an average capacity of 500k seedlings

Approximately

50%

of our employees are women

One step closer to billions of trees By mid-2022, we will plant our billionth tree. The first step behind our success and what has led us towards this milestone is working directly with local communities and building relationships with local leaders who want their environment to thrive, thereby creating jobs, protecting ecosystems, and helping mitigate climate change. Through our Employ to Plant methodology, we provide economic incentives and replicable planting techniques to support local communities in restoring their forests and growing their economies. This creates an environmentally friendly path to economic sustainability for the communities where we work.

Over the years, we have seen that when community members are provided with a consistent wage, local economies grow, families are lifted out of poverty long-term, and more forests are restored. By continuing to scale our approach, we plan to grow from planting nearly a million trees per day to more than a billion trees per year.

Four years of growth in Jhapa, Nepal

Andrew Kinzer Africa Area Co-Director

Natasha Kerr Director of Americas

"In 2021, we began implementing our socioeconomic impact survey, which will help us further identify the livelihood benefits we are generating for people in impoverished and underserved communities. We navigated remote training across different languages and timezones to successfully roll out the survey in both Kenya and Mozambique. Getting the survey initiatives started was exciting on its own, but in Kenya, the teams were able to generate the first set of results from our first nursery in the country. A shallow dive into the socioeconomic results shows that we have a significant positive impact on people's annual cash income in the community where our 'mother' nursery is located."

“As we launched projects in new regions across Haiti, Central America, and Brazil, our vision was instilled in new leaders and communities who made our work thrive in 2021. It has been so inspiring to see our teams organize the logistics of building nurseries from the ground up, training teams in the field, and implementing monitoring systems. Even in the face of parching drought, earthquakes, and wildfires our teams consistently step up to the plate with solutions and determination to plant millions of trees. Failure is not really an option with the work we do, and our teams take ownership of figuring out how to make their goals happen.”

Gritty and creative leaders are the secret to our success More than anything, what enables us to plant nearly a million trees a day is the character of our international and national leaders. In any given week, they might overcome challenges most people would consider a once-in-a-lifetime event, from warlords and bandits, to wild animals, to parching drought or hurricanes. To succeed in these conditions, they work with grit, creativity, determination, and an unwavering commitment to our mission. Despite all the challenges our leaders in the field face, they went above and beyond in accomplishing our goals for 2021.

Rachhya Kayastha National Director of Nepal

Renet Leger National Director of Haiti

"2021 was filled with new goals and accomplishments. Throughout the year, our team grew, and our planting capacity increased at each of our sites. As our team expanded, we found new ways to improve how we produce, plant, and protect millions of trees by coming together to discuss creative ideas each month. As a result, we have implemented more accurate monitoring techniques for the field and improved our forest inventory system. I am very proud of how our Nepal team worked together despite the lockdown and extreme weather conditions that caused landslides to plant more than 5 million trees."

“This year, our team faced many challenges. There was a lot of political and social unrest, and, because of that, fuel supplies were low, roads were blocked with crowds, and people were attacked by mobs. However, we did not let these obstacles stop us from planting trees. We found other routes to our sites, changed our travel times to avoid crowds, and worked closely with the communities near our planting sites. Thanks to the determination of our employees, we planted over 4 million trees throughout Haiti in 2021, which is over 20 times the amount of trees we planted in 2019.”

Alexandra Kinzer Africa Area Co-Director

Aurore Maxey Co-Regional Director of Papua

Daniel Maxey Co-Regional Director of Papua

Jamie Shattenberg International Director of Madagascar

Gildo Cuamba National Director of Mozambique

James Tiburcio National Director of Brazil

Josy Armand National Director of Madagascar

Rafael Oqueli National Director of Honduras

How our employees are restoring landscapes and building their local economies "By planting native trees, Jayne and the local community will revitalize essential river basins.”

Bringing life back to Lake Parnaguá with Jayne’s help Growing up in Brazil, Jayne saw how the deforestation of over 700,000 hectares (7,000 square kilometers/2,700 square miles) surrounding Lake Parnaguá devastated the environment and her community. When the entire lake dried up, her father and other local fishers lost their only source of income, and the community lost their water source for six months. Seeing the effect deforestation had on her community, Jayne began conducting socioeconomic surveys to identify how the loss of the lake affected nearby fishers and researched legal measures to protect those most impacted. "My father himself was one of those people who fed us with what the lake gave us. During my project, I could see that the whole community was suffering as well," stated Jayne. When we began our work in Brazil, it was evident that Jayne would be a valuable addition to the team as our most important connections are with local community members who want a healthy environment. Jayne joined our Brazil team as a nursery manager, where she oversees the planting of thousands of trees on the banks of Lake Parnaguá. By planting native trees, Jayne and the local community will revitalize essential river basins, which will bring back their water source, fish populations, and economic self-sufficiency to the community.

Project nation: Brazil

Replanting a disease-ridden forest through Mayron’s leadership

Project nation: Mozambique

How Alzira is able to send her kids to school by planting thousands of trees Alzira Arão Cossa struggled to find work to provide for her children. As a single mother of four, she spent her days tending other people's gardens, earning less than one dollar per day. "Every morning, I woke up worried and didn't know where to find food for us," Alzira recounted. She planted crops on her small plot of land and continued looking for a more consistent way to provide for her family. When our Mozambique team was conducting socioeconomic impact surveys in the community, our local site leader, Elisabeth, saw the need that Alzira was in and, on the spot, offered her a job as a planter. Working with us is the first official job Alzira has had. She told us, "it was hard for me to believe that it was possible to have a consistent income because I was suffering so much." Even when she and her team face searing drought, torrential downpours, and unpredictable wildlife, Alzira starts each day counting seeds and planting them until she reaches her daily goal. With the income she earns, Alzira has started attending school with her children to learn alongside them. She wakes up each day eager to go to work, knowing she no longer has to worry about how she will find food for her family.

Over 75,000 hectares (750 square kilometers/290 square miles) of Honduran pine forest were destroyed over three years by an invasive pine beetle species spreading a disease throughout the forest. In an attempt to stop the spread, uninfected trees were cut down, destroying even more of the forest. After the infestation was under control, a fire in the forest broke out, leaving very few trees in the hills. This impacted the surrounding communities greatly due to a significant reduction in air quality, loss of nutrients in the soil for farming, and a decrease in the water table. Mayron Mejía, our Reforestation Project Technician and Monitoring Manager in Honduras, quickly identified this area of land as a project site in need of reforestation. By having previous work experience with wildlife in protected areas, Mayron has a keen awareness of how deforestation affects life in Honduras and wants to make sure his children grow up in a world full of thriving natural resources. Now, he works closely with the local community to monitor progress in the field and helps the team reach their planting goals. Since employing community members to produce, plant, and protect nearly 2 million trees in Honduras, they have seen improvements in their environment.

Project nation: Honduras

“Only at Eden”

Empowering those who were once overlooked Finding a steady income is challenging for many living in impoverished regions, and it is even more difficult for those living with a disability. At Eden, if someone has the capability and is willing to get their hands dirty, we empower them to work alongside us in restoring their environment. In Madagascar, one of our planters, Papan’i Mika, is completely blind. Before he began working with us, Papan’i Mika’s only opportunity for work was when he would go out fishing. Although he tried to find a stable job with a consistent income, employers couldn't accommodate his blindness. Many of our team members in Mahabana knew Papan’i Mika from their days as fishers and saw his potential. The level of care and attention that Papan’i Mika showed while fishing was proof that he would be an essential

part of our team, so we hired him to plant mangroves. When he plants, Papan’i Mika uses his keen sense of touch to differentiate between species, identify which end of the propagule needs to be planted, and measure each propagule half a meter to one meter apart from the next. Since he was hired, Papan’i Mika has planted thousands of mangroves to help restore the coastline. Papan'i Mika is one example of many of the people we have hired who have been overlooked due their disability, gender or status. When we talk about empowering communities, we mean that in a holistic sense and are honored to provide the dignity of fair employment to those who may not have it otherwise.

“Through our team’s problem-solving creativity, they have planted more than 5.5 million mangroves.”

Learning from our experience The first step to our success is developing relationships with local communities and relying on their expertise in the field. In each of our project nations, we use an adaptive management approach, meaning that when things don’t go as planned, we research and experiment to diagnose challenges, learn from them, and develop long-term solutions. For example, during the monsoon season on Numfor Island in Indonesia, the rise in tide along the coast ripped out many of the propagules starting to take root. While other organizations might have given up, our Indonesia team doubled down to determine why this happened and worked together to develop a solution to prevent this from happening again. As they evaluated what went wrong, one of our planters, Agustinus Dimara, noticed that the Rhizophora

apiculata species could withstand stronger storms and higher tides. Thinking this might be their solution, the team tested out this theory by planting the Rhizophora apiculata species. After another storm with high tides came through, the team went out to check on the propagules the next day. The new species of propagules were still rooted firmly in the ground. Through our team’s problem-solving creativity, they have planted more than 5.5 million mangroves on Numfor Island.

Eight years of growth in Aranta 1, Madagascar

Carbon financing, landscape opportunities, and third-party verification are

laying the groundwork for large-scale reforestation 17

Quantified and verified carbon impacts Certified carbon projects are becoming a critical tool for individuals, companies, and governments seeking to reduce their carbon impact. Through our new subsidiary, Compassionate Carbon, we are beginning to develop carbon projects to enable our supporters to finance quantified and verified carbon impacts, including the purchase of future offsets. This work is grounded in the use of the Mullion Group’s FLINTpro application, which allows us to quantify our historic climate impacts and the future impacts of specific sites.

Landscape-sized restoration projects To meet the urgent tree planting demand and our goal of 50 billion trees planted by 2030, we are extending our reforestation programs to landscape opportunities. These projects aim to restore forest connectivity across broader landscapes, allowing us to scale our holistic impact on livelihoods, water provision, habitat availability, disaster resilience, and global climate change mitigation. These projects will be 50,000+ hectares (500 square kilometers/193 square miles) compared to our current project sites that are on average 2,000 hectares (20 square kilometers/7.7 square miles). This year Alex Kinzer’s role has changed from Africa Area Co-Director to Director of Forest Landscape Restoration, and she will lead this program. We will be adding more extensive, complex projects to our offerings in the future, all while continuing to build on the reforestation systems we've been developing for years.

Third-party verification While expanding to landscape-sized projects, it remains a high priority for us to maintain and demonstrate the quality and value of our work. Therefore, we are in the process of certifying our work in each of our project nations by a thirdparty. Currently, we are working with Preferred By Nature (PBN), which is thoroughly assessing our project design and implementation, including our environmental and socioeconomic goals and outcomes. After going through comprehensive report analyses and onsite inspections, we received certifications on the first projects reviewed by PBN in Madagascar and Mozambique. In 2022, PBN will review a number of our sites in Kenya and Nepal.

Transparent access to on-theground results

Consistent forest inventory data collection across all project nations

2 3

Drone program expansion Training more pilots

Using drones in new nations (as permitted by local laws) Mapping more sites and establishing a consistent calendar so we can capture baseline imagery and progress over time Capturing 360-degree panoramas

As we continue to scale rapidly around the world, we are committed to providing our supporters and other stakeholders with transparent access to our results. We are implementing more rigorous monitoring and evaluation, including consistent forest inventory data, drone programs, satellite remote sensing, and new environmental studies. In each of these areas, we are using an adaptive management approach. This means when one process is not working, we conduct research and experiments to develop long-term solutions. By learning from each setback, we are able to create a vast knowledge base of best practices for restoration.

Satellite remote sensing to monitor sites at a landscape scale Creating a time-series of landscapes Identifying suitable restoration areas Quantifying our impact using science-based approaches Increasing transparency by using open-source data

Implementation of new environmental studies to strengthen scientific knowledge of our restoration practices Measuring seed ball germination rates Calculating optimal planting density across all of our forest types Understanding on a clearer level how our reforestation efforts impact natural regeneration

Mapping the site before planting in La Tigra, Honduras

Key metrics for measuring our reforestation impact

Increase in canopy cover percent measured through remote sensing and high-resolution imagery

Hectares protected, planted, and restored

Land use and Land cover change

Survival rate of trees planted

Number of trees planted

Digging deeper into our community impact In 2021, we continued to enhance our system for tracking our employment data globally, even in remote, rural regions. Continuing into 2022, we are expanding our research of our socioeconomic impact among local communities we work with to gain an in-depth understanding of the livelihood benefits we’re generating through our reforestation work. We will conduct in-depth surveys across all our project nations by the end of 2022 that can be comparatively analyzed to other global poverty assessment surveys, such as the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS of the World Bank Group) and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI of the UNDP). This research will allow us to understand our greatest contributions to socioeconomic well-being among local communities and identify ways to adjust our model to address additional needs.

Kanaan nursery, Kenya

Key metrics for measuring our socioeconomic impact

$ Greater interest in and sense of ownership for the restored forest

Increased wages and household income

Improved access to clean water, nutrition, education, and health services

Increased microenterprises planned and created

Equal employment for women

Individuals employed in underserved geographies

Looking ahead Over the next several years, we will be accelerating our growth and impact, scaling to contribute substantially to the global challenge of planting a trillion trees. Our short-term goal is to produce, plant, and protect a minimum of 4 billion trees by 2024 and our longer-term ambition is a minimum of 50 billion trees by 2030. Our strategies for accomplishing these goals are: Creating a transparent information sharing platform and associated processes that gives anyone in the world access to our on-the-ground results Building a coordinated global network of funding and planting partners based on “The Eden Way” to enable continued exponential growth Developing trusted alliances and the planning capacity to position us as the global restoration lead for landscape-scale approaches To build the capacity to fulfill these strategies and tree planting demands, we adjusted our tree price for the first time in our existence in early 2022 to 15 cents per tree in all nations except Brazil, where the price will continue to be 33 cents per tree. These funds will enable us to keep up with rising costs. Even before the recent inflationary spike, the US Consumer Price Index, for example, had increased 38% since our founding, while we held our tree price unchanged. Moreover, the funds will enable us to invest in landscape-sized restoration opportunities, which provide more extensive environmental and economic benefits, and to implement more rigorous monitoring and evaluation standards. To reach this extensive scale of reforestation and poverty alleviation, it will take a village of partners, investors, and funders as we need to raise around $7.5 billion. Join us in restoring forests and providing thousands of jobs to impoverished communities at edenprojects.org.

Short-t

plant 4

= 336,800⁺ ha, 3,300⁺ s

term goal

4B trees

sq. km., 1,300⁺ sq. mi.

Long-term goal

plant 50B trees = 4.2 m⁺ ha, 42,000⁺ sq. km., 16,000⁺ sq. mi.

Spreading our roots and exp

Belize

Haiti

Guatemala Central America

Brazil

ACTIVE PROJECT NATIONS PROJECT NATIONS IN DEVELOPMENT

panding into new landscapes

Nepal the Philippine Islands

Ethiopia

Tanzania

Zambia

Kenya

Indonesia

Madagascar

Mozambique

Thanks for empowering global reforestation and holistic community transformation Testimonials

A complete commitment to collaboration, reforestation, and community engagement "When Eden goes into a project they are looking for local buy-in and local leadership. They want to make sure they create an opportunity where they are not just planting trees, but creating jobs, economies, and local ownership of reforestation projects so those trees have the best chance for long term survival."

- Dan Lambe, President of Arbor Day Foundation

Providing jobs while helping the environment “I think about Eden in three ways: their passion, how they provide a service at a reasonable price that has a fantastic outcome, and lastly their impact on the world.”

- Jim Gowen, Chief Sustainability Officer of Verizon

We are grateful for all of the support our 1,200+ partners, along with thousands of individuals, provide to help reverse extreme poverty and global deforestation. Join us in restoring the environment and supporting communities for the long-term at edenprojects.org.

Produce, plant, & protect.

303 W. Foothill Blvd, Suite 13, Glendora, CA 91741 P 626.872.3770

F 626.609.1763

E info@edenprojects.org